Dad records himself telling his son his mom died of heroin overdose, video goes viral

WASHINGTON - An Ohio father filmed the moment he told his 8-year-old son that his mother died of a heroin overdose. The video has since gone viral on social media.

Brenden Bickerstaff-Clark posted the video to Facebook on October 10, 2016. It has 31 million views and over 709,000 shares.

The heart-wrenching video of a child seen crying over the loss of their mother is extremely perplexing because it is not common to record such a tragic moment.

According to Bickerstaff-Clark, the video is a wake-up call to all addicts. It’s a plea to stop and get help for the sake of their family, so as not to place their children in jeopardy.

The video shows Bickerstaff-Clark hugging his son saying “I love you” after breaking the news.

Bickerstaff-Clark's caption served as a call-out card to ALL addicts:

“This for any and every addict with children. Today I had to tell my 8 year old son that his mommy died from a drug overdose last night. This is the realization and reality of our disease.” He continues to say, “Don’t let this disease have to make someone tell your child that your dead because of drugs. This was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do. My son has no mother because of heroin... kinda hard to hear but u can hear what we're saying. Please get help so our children don't have to suffer. This wasnt staged. This was real. I had someone record this so addicts with children can see the seriousnes of our epidemic. I am a recovering addict myself with 94 days clean today... please share n maybe help save a childs parents life.”

On one hand, many people on social media praised Brenden for the video. Including families who had lost loved ones to an addiction.

However, other’s scrutinized the video as ill and unthoughtful.

We’ll let you decide whether you think the video was right or distasteful. Tweet your thoughts to fox5dc or send us a message on Facebook.